6. ožu 2014.

Reviving Izabel by J.A Redmerski

"Determined to live a
dark life in the company of the assassin who freed her from bondage,
Sarai sets out on her own to settle a score with an evil sadist.
Unskilled and untrained in the art of killing, the events that unfold
leave her hanging precariously on the edge of death when nothing goes as
planned.

Sarai’s reckless choices send her on a path she knows
she can never turn back from and so she presents Victor with an
ultimatum: help her become more like him and give her a fighting chance,
or she’ll do it alone no matter the consequences. Knowing that Sarai
cannot become what she wants to be overnight, Victor begins to train her
and inevitably their complicated relationship heats up.

As
Arthur Hamburg’s right-hand man, Willem Stephens, closes in on his
crusade to destroy Sarai, she is left with the crushing realization that
she may have bitten off more than she can chew. But Sarai, taking on
the new and improved role of Izabel Seyfried, still has a set of deadly
skills of her own that will prove to be all she needs to secure her
place beside Victor.

But there is one test that Izabel must face
that has the potential to destroy everything she is working so hard to
achieve. One final test that will not only make her question her
decision to want this dangerous life, but will make her question
everything she has come to trust about Victor Faust."

I liked first novel more, but it is still worth reading.Reviving Izabel continues the story about Victor and Sarai, but we meet our anti-heroes eight months after the final scene from the Killing Sarai. No matter how much she tries to lead a normal life, Sarai is far from what is socially accepted as normal and still deeply marked by the last nine years of her life. She takes the matters in her own hands and decides to confront the monsters. (Spoiler alert.)

More hotness, more action and, unfortunately, more drama. Everyone who wanted to see more sensitive side of Victor, sizzling scenes and what would Sarai do next will be happy with what author did in the sequel. For the most part I am among those too, but at the times it looked like J.A. Redmerski forgot few details in her original character concepts. Victor, but Sarai too, were more like teenagers in love. Why was that problem for me? Well, it is different from the way they were represented in the first novel and also, Reviving Izabel has most of the standard new adult drama issues. Plot was inconsistent and not convincing, I felt lost several times. Last third of the book was written in the completely different manner - too many witty comebacks and cliche set-ups.
No matter all of the above, I still enjoyed reading this book - it has even more Nikita atmoshere than the Killing Sarai, it's fast-paced and interesting, but far from perfect. I agree with other readers when it comes to Fredrik, he is interesting character but I hope he will not be new Soren (character from The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz).

Glad you enjoyed this even if it wasn't as good as the first one. I hate when characters and the plot are inconsistent. Sounds like this could have been much better if it had been edited a little more tightly. Lovely honest review!

That is my biggest problem with the series, you have a feeling that the characters in the third or fourth book are not the same as in the first book. I'm not talking about character development - of course that due to circumstances people change - what I mean is that some of the authors tend to forget certain details or their original vision. Suddenly in stead of strong woman you have 28 year old acting like spoiled teenager, or things like that.

I always have this fear that the second book in a series I love might not be as great as the first one and that's pretty sad. I'm still glad you enjoyed this book overall, Glass, although I wish it were that tad bit more better for you. Awesome review!

I've yet to read anything by J.A. Redmerski but I hear great things. I didn't even know this was a series! Some of the character development sounds positive but some doesn't. Plus, drama. But the rest sounds good!

Shoot, Glass! I've had to take a step back from NA just because of those drama issues, I can only handle so much of them before I need to read about something else. It's too bad this sequel didn't quite live up to book one, but I'm glad you still ended up enjoying it overall!

I was on a NA break for a while for the same reason, but I think that the main problem is that most of the readers (and authors) associate NA with romance with very specific storyline full of cliches and characters that are "created with formula". But those are not the only kind of NA novels out there, just like not every YA paranormal series is not like Vampire Academy.

I've not read any books by this author, but I've been wanting to for quite some time. I've been eyeing this series, but haven't really heard much about it to be honest :) I do want to check it out. Great review Glass!

Oh, I haven't read the sequel yet, but it's too bad that Sarai and Victor turned out to be lovey dovey. I never saw them as that type of couple in the first book. Either ways, I'm going to read finish this series, but not anytime soon since you mentioned the cliched NA plot. I don't remember who Fredrick is (maybe he's introduced in this one) and I haven't read Tiffany Reisz series because it sounds too dark for my taste, but after seeing the chilling cover for his book, I have to say I'm very curious about him.

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Behind this blog are two enthusiastic readers from Bosnia - Glass and Tanja. More info about us you can find at About Us tab. If you're an author or publisher and would want us to read and review your books please check out our Review Policy.